


C8H10N4O2

by megolas



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-24
Updated: 2012-04-24
Packaged: 2017-11-04 06:00:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/390567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megolas/pseuds/megolas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>C<sub>8</sub>H<sub>10</sub>N<sub>4</sub>O<sub>2</sub> is the molecular structure for Caffeine</p>
            </blockquote>





	C8H10N4O2

C8H10N4O2

When Rodney was in High School, his caffeine intake barely made his hands shake and seeing the sun rising was more acceptable than seeing it set. His parents had all but given up on lecturing him about turning night into day and he hadn't seen his bed for over a month. He'd even learnt the art of successfully avoiding QWERTY face and sleeping in his computer chair didn't make his back hurt.

He was young, thought himself invincible and wore a shirt that said 'Caffeine inside' until it got up and walked.

\---

When Rodney was an undergraduate, his caffeine intake gave him 'the shakes' but he figured that they were still better than the stomach cramps he got when, god forbid, he didn't drink it. He still saw the sun rising more often than not and even, no thanks to the inhuman undergrad timetable, saw while it was still high in the sky. He firmly believed that 9am lectures were the sign of a sick mind and that if he started teaching, he was never, ever, ever going to teach at that hour. 

He could still sleep in a computer chair but it wasn't as easy and now that he had access to a lab, a cot was far better.

\---

When Rodney was working on his masters, he never saw the daylight if he could help it, preferring the harsh lights of the lab or the soothing flicker of his computer screens. He swore that the flickering light of the screen triggered a steady drip of serotonin and caught a couple of hours' sleep bathed in the pale blue light while his coffee pot kept up a steady drip-drip-drip of brown gold.

One of his lab mates likened caffeine withdrawal to the medical textbook description of heroin withdrawal and Rodney swore he was never going to find out, even if he did get heart palpitations after his 35th cup of the day.

\---

When Rodney was two doctorates down, and anything less than four cups after he woke up meant he was all but useless for the rest of the day, the more cunning of his students curried favour and reduced their exposure to his blistering putdowns by bringing him coffee along with their theses and reports. 

Rodney found his urge to eat their heads mellowed slightly if they sacrificed two cups of freshly brewed Blue Mountain to him before they pleaded their cases. It never worked at their theses defence but those that brought him the coffee still retained more skin when they finally stumbled out than those who didn't, like some small part of Rodney's hindbrain spared them an inch.

\---

When Rodney was in Atlantis, he found that he was no longer capable of sleeping comfortably in anything other than his bed and that his spine made the most godawful noises every time he slept in the labs. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the sun rise *or* set, in between the keeping everyone else alive or, rather than being invincible, running for his life. 

As the coffee supply slowly dwindled, he also found that his old lab mate had been correct and he had, in fact, actually shed tears of joy when the Daedalus arrived with new supplies of all the important things, like coffee and wasn't ashamed to admit it as even Kavanagh had been briefly human after the first six cups.

And if he had the chance, he wouldn't change a thing.


End file.
